The volume and success of delivery giants such as Federal Express Corporation, United Parcel Service, and others demonstrate how vital delivery service is to both the business community and individuals. Businesses have grown to rely on delivery companies to carry all types of documents and packages, collectively referred to herein as "items." A guarantee of on time delivery is key to the success of most of the private carriers. Some companies guarantee delivery before specific times on the delivery day, e.g., before 10:00 am, before 4:00 pm, etc. As a result of these delivery guarantees, sophisticated item tracking systems have been developed. Tracking systems benefit both the delivering company and the consumer by identifying the whereabouts of an item at all points along the delivery route.
Tracking systems often use portable tracking units to log receipt and delivery of an item. Two portable tracking units are the Microwand.RTM. scanner and Laserwand.RTM. scanner marketed by Hand Held Products, Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., the assignee of the present application. The Microwand.RTM. scanner and Laserwand.RTM. scanner allow a central or host computer to track items by individually scanning them at Certain waypoints on the delivery route. For example, upon receipt of an item, a courier can use a Microwand.RTM. scanner or Laserwand.RTM. scanner to scan a bar code on the item and enter the time of pickup into the scanning unit's memory. The bar code and other data may be transferred to a host computer. The host computer receives information throughout the delivery route and can verify where the item should be along the way. The item is also typically scanned at the time of delivery, verifying that the item has successfully reached its destination.
A signature is commonly obtained from the recipient when an item is delivered to indicate the item's receipt. This signature verification is called "proof of delivery" in the delivery industry. In a typical delivery, proof of delivery provides evidence that the item has been successfully delivered. The delivery could be to the intended party or to the custody of a party on behalf of the intended recipient.
The recipient's signature may be digitized and electronically stored. Electronic storage allows consumers to receive proof of the delivery's acceptance in written form or by electronic confirmation. One problem with capturing a signature, either in a physical or electronic form, is that signatures are often illegible. A person's signature is often written illegibly because they are in a hurry, or have developed a signing style which does not properly represent the letters in their name. Signatures captured on paper records suffer the additional hazard of potentially getting lost or misplaced. In many instances, however, proof of delivery may be accomplished by simply producing the recipient's name, or some other identifying information, without necessitating such physical evidence as a signature. For example, the Federal Express Corporation satisfies a large percentage of their proof of delivery requests telephonically with human operators. There still remains, however, an uncomfortable level of deniability using electronic or written reports as proof of delivery. That is, a recalcitrant party can comfortably deny receiving an item without sufficient evidence to prove otherwise.